Bangladeshi migrant labourers held

KOTTAYAM: The police on Tuesday arrested 10 Bangladeshi migrant labourers from Kaduthuruthy for not carrying proper migration documents. The police acted on a tip-off received by intelligence ADGP T P Senkumar. The officials from the state Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) quizzed the arrested labourers at the Kaduthuruthy police station.The labourers from Satkhira and Jessore districts of Bangladesh did not have any valid documents with them to prove their identity and migration details.“They didn’t have passports or visas with them. We registered a case of unauthorised migration against the labourers,” Kaduthuruthy SI Thomas Joseph said. The police seized four mobile phones and seven SIM cards from them.Meanwhile, the state Intelligence and the IB officials suspect some possibilities of terrorist links too, since one of the arrested labourers had made contradictory replies. “One of them has made calls to Pakistan two or three times. When asked, he said he had contacted his relative who is now in Pakistan,” Special Branch DySP Shajahan said.However, the state police said they didn’t get any information other than that the labourers were detained for not carrying proper documents. “The IB and the state Intelligence Bureau interrogated them. We did not interfere in their interrogation,” district police superintendent C Rajagopal said.The migrant labourers who came to Kerala for construction works were staying at a rented house at Perumthuruth near Kallara. While some of them were staying there for over a year, others came only two weeks ago.The police also interrogated Perumthuruth Vadakkepparambil Sasi, who brought them here and provided lodging facilities. The police said the contractor ‘bought’ them from a Kolkata-based agency for `2,000-`3,000 each. He charged `25 from each of them everyday as a commission for providing employment.